Dramatic Performances Act

The Dramatic Performances Act was implemented by the British Raj in India in the year 1876 to police seditious Indian theatre. India, being a colony of the British Empire had begun using the theatre as a tool of protest against the oppressive nature of the colonial rule. In order to check these revolutionary impulses, the British Government proceeded to impose the Dramatic Performances Act. Following India's independence in 1947, the Act has not been repealed, and most states have introduced their own modified versions with certain amendments which have in fact, often strengthened the control of the administration over the theatre.

The Dramatic Performances Act, often shortened to "DPA", was brought into force in the year 1876 under the administration of Viceroy Northbrook. The Act sought to empower the British administration to control better the theatre scene in India.

The Act outlined the restrictions that public performances of a play, pantomime or any other drama would have to adhere to. According to this Act, if the state government judged any play to be of a scandalous nature; disrupting social values; or felt that it might excite feelings of disaffection against the government established by law; or that it would corrupt persons, then the said performance would stand prohibited.

The Act further stated that if any person or groups on whom an order of prohibition had been served refused to comply with the same, such persons or groups would be liable to be punished. The penalty for disobedience of the terms of the Act was either imprisonment for a term extending to about three months, or a fine, or in some cases, both. The Act conferred upon the government the right to information, by which right the persons as empowered by the Act could demand the procurement of all such plays for verification whose content might violate one or many terms of the Act.

The police was granted the license to enter, arrest and seize any persons, scenery, costumes, and or articles whose use or intended use in the performance as prohibited under the terms of the Dramatic Performances Act, had been reasonably established. By this Act, no public performance was to take place in any local area without the sanction of a license.

In Calcutta, by the early 1860s the need for public theatres was strongly felt. Dramatic performances so far were private and irregular, open to a handful of spectators. Contemporary newspapers advocated the need for theatres to act as vehicles of social reform and instruction in a variety of subjects, as also, a focus of amusement and entertainment. It was to be a democratic space where, by the purchase of a ticket of minimal charge, anyone could be a spectator.

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